One of our most recurring topics of conversation is “when will we be able to travel again?” Of course we could be stubborn and head off now, provided we were able to navigate the various states’ rules for entry from our of state, rules about quarantine, etc., and as long as we were willing to carry grocery store food in coolers and eat carryout. But nothing is open, so it would be “travel for travel’s sake.” Instead we’re making ourselves be content with sticking at home and taking care of all those endless things that we’ve been putting off until “some day.” It seems like “some day” might be here.
The cruise industry has gotten a lot of press recently because of all the reports of ships full of sick people, etc. The cruise lines are unfortunate symbols of what happens when you put a bunch of people from different places in one space for a week or more. All kinds of interesting things can happen, and the media loves reporting on cruise ships because when things go wrong they make for great headlines.
It’s no secret that Kathy & I love to cruise. We have a cruise booked for October to celebrate our 40th anniversary. The cruise lines say that they intend to sail again soon. And they might, provided they can convince the CDC and Coast Guard to allow the ships to dock. The big question is: when will the cruising public be confident enough to book a cruise? That’s the question we find ourselves asking: even if the ship sails, how do we feel about being on it? Certainly by October a lot of this will have blown over, we reason. And we don’t have to put the rest of our money down until early July. Will we know by then? We’re holding off until then to make a decision. It will be interesting to see how things look in another 3 months.
I read something today about what we call normal. Some things about our lifestyles may not be normal, such as racism, sexism, war, capitalism, and other things. Just maybe we are moving towards something more attune to normal such as compassion, love, support, more universal healthcare, and other things. I’m not sure I would be getting back on a cruise ship or an airplane for a while. I’m just not sure….
I mostly worry that we confuse “normal” with “right.” There are a lot of things going on that people consider to be normal that are probably more properly referred to as “typical.” Prejudice toward people due to nationality (Chinese) or whether they are wearing a mask. When I read about things like using our cellphones to track who we have been around and potentially exposed to/by I worry that we blindly accept that as normal, much as after 9/11 we have now “accepted by not rejecting” cameras everywhere, facial recognition and license plate tracking. I’m treading into dangerous territory here, sorry…. 🙁
Truthfully, I ordinarily consider cruise ships to be one of the cleanest and healthiest places we go. I’ve seen the extent that the crew goes to toward cleanliness and sanitation. Unfortunately it is our fellow human passengers who bring their bad habits and germs on board and ruin things for the rest of us! I’m like you, though. October may be too soon. We’ll see. 😉